Boston Police Commissioner William Evans joined Boston Public Radio Tuesday for his monthly "Ask the Commissioner" segment. Evans spoke with BPR cohosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan about recent snowstorms, officers under fire, Boston Marathon safety preparations, and police and civilian use of surveillance cameras.
After the Boston area was waylaid by multiple significant snowstorms, Commissioner Evans noted that crime levels sank. "We're off to a good start this year," Evans said. "We have 37 percent reduction from where we were last year. [...] It's hard to break into a car if you can't see the car." Evans noted that domestic violence calls — which can rise during storms — hadn't spiked significantly, either.
Evans said the city has gone to great lengths to prevent mass towing during each successive snowstorm.
"We're out there with the loudspeakers, I know [the Department of] Transportation is. The last thing we want to do is tow somebody. [...] The first couple storms we had some real great compliance."
The last time Commissioner Evans joined Boston Public Radio he confessed to removing people's space-savers during morning runs in South Boston. The Commissioner said after all the snow he's changed his ways.
"No, I'm not doing it, because you ratted me out. Now I'm on the straight and narrow," Evans joked with Braude and Eagan. "If someone shovels it out, [then] they own it."
Evans noted that many officers on the Boston force — himself included — wear many extra layers to prepare to be out in the cold.
"When it goes under 50 [degrees] I wear my long johns no matter what, believe it or not," Evans said. He said officers are "all bundled up" during the cold. "Whether it's Under Armour or whatever, they come prepared. [...] You could all of a sudden be out at a crime scene and be stuck there for hours and hours."
Earlier in the month, Kenneth Lamour was gunned down in Jamaica Plain while working on snow removal as part of a nonprofit work crew. Josiah Zachery was charged not only in Lamour's death, but also with firing a gun at a police officer responding to the incident. Evans said it took great restraint for responding officers to not return fire.
"We have every right to do it, but this officer chose not to do it, probably because of the safety of other people in the area," Evans said. "We don't shoot if we don't have to. [...] It's the worst thing we could possibly do." Evans noted that officers routinely respond to life-threatening situations — including an incident Tuesday morning where a knife-wielding woman was disarmed without the use of force.
Prior to Boston's big snowstorms, police were busy overseeing protests taking place in busy Boston streets. The activists hoped to raise awareness about the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and others as part of the "Black Lives Matter" movement. Evans said officers used video equipment to surveil the crowd — for their safety, and protestors' safety as well.
"There's always allegations in these protests that police overreact," Evans said. "We have every right to videotape to countermand those charges that we overreacted. [...] What's the difference between us having a body camera, or us having a camera on our shoulder filming people?" Evans said the tape showed that officers were "basically brutalized" during some protests. (The Massachusetts ACLU has called for an investigation into some protest-related incidents.)
Commissioner Evans said safety preparations for this year's Boston Marathon are underway. He noted plans would be similar to last year's preparations, despite the fact that Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's trial will run concurrently.
"We had a great plan last year. Obviously, with the trial going on we'll raise our level of concern. [...] We have the same plan this year, and obviously we'll work with the FBI and all of our partners." Evans added that with the Tsarnaev trial happening, Boston and intelligence officials have "heightened" their oversight of individuals traveling into and out of the city.
Evans said that with two weeks to go before the annual South Boston St. Patrick's Day parade, discussions have been ongoing about a possible parade route change due to excessive snow.
"It's going to be kind of hard to run it down some of these side streets with two weeks to go," Evans said. "It's [Mayor Walsh's] decision. It's something we've discussed."
Boston Globe reporters Andrew Ryan and Andrew Ba Tran recently wrote about a Boston police captain who made $416,000 in 2013, and a number of other officers who made over $300,000. Braude and Eagan asked Evans what he made last year.
'We do yeoman's work out there, every day, and when I hear the Red Sox just signed someone to $30 million, 19 years old -- I think we're more valuable.'
"Last year I made $185 [thousand]" Evans said. "What happened in this year's salaries, [...] there was a retroactive check which was pretty large for a lot of the captains and the lieutenants. [...] That made up a vast amount of what a lot of these high salaries were — they were actually paybacks."
Braude and Eagan asked Evans whether officers — public employees — deserved six-figure salaries.
"We do yeoman's work out there, every day, and when I hear the Red Sox just signed someone to $30 million, 19 years old — I think we're more valuable," Evans said, referencing Red Sox signee Yoan Moncada. "I think they deserve every penny they get, honestly."
While Boston residents continue to debate the possibility of hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics, Evans said security preparations for a possible Boston Games hadn't yet materialized.
"Not at this stage. I talk to the FBI almost weekly on events regarding terrorism and whatnot," Evans said. "Whether it's going to be a national security event, we really haven't had those discussions yet."
>> To hear the entire interview with Boston Police Commissioner William Evans, click the above audio link. Commissioner Evans joins Boston Public Radio once a month to take listener calls, emails and Tweets.
